It's no secret that the software-defined data center (SDDC) market is exploding, and a new report from Allied Market Research has it pegged to reach $139 billion by the year 2022. The report, released Thursday, also predicts that the SDDC market will grow at a CAGR of 32% from 2016-2022.

For the uninitiated, an SDDC is a data center environment where the computer, networking, and storage are software-defined, or virtualized, and delivered on demand. Typically, they also contain an additional software layer for management and orchestration.

Software-defined storage holds the biggest market share, according to the report. However, Allied Market Research also predicted that software-defined networking, a market segment led by products like VMware NSX, will see stronger growth during the same period.

In 2014, the highest market share belonged to government and financial services, counting for 25% of overall SDDC revenue. But, telecom and IT are expected to become the market leaders in the future, the report said. Regionally, the Asia-Pacific area made up 20% of the market value in 2014, and the report predicts it will move forward as the fastest growing region for SDDC.

"[T]he ability to facilitate streamlined data center operations, virtualization, and high flexibility is expected to promote its demand across industries," Allied Market Research's Preeti Bisht said in a press release. "In addition, positive response for installation of SDDC has witnessed remarkable growth in the past few years."

A second Allied Market Research report, released the same day, examined growth in the hyperscale data center market. That market, according to the report, is predicted to hit $71.2 billion in total revenue by 2022, with a CAGR of 20.7% projected from 2016-2022.

Hyperscale data centers are focused on massively scaling their compute resources by adding in nodes as needed. According to the report, their growth will be driven strongly by cloud service providers, which accounted for 63% of the market share in 2015.

"With rise in cloud computing, social media, big data, online gaming, and other online applications, there is a constant need for enhanced IT infrastructure that caters to the ever-increasing demand for resources; a factor that further supplements the demand for hyperscale data centers," the report said.

Telecom and IT were strongest industries relative to SDDC, but the report predicted that banking and financial services will take the lead in 2019 and continue it through 2022. North America is currently the strongest region, but the Asia Pacific region is growing the fastest in the hyperscale data center market.

The 3 big takeaways for TechRepublic readers

A new report from Allied Market Research said that the global SDDC market will grow to $139 billion by the year 2022.

Software-defined storage was noted as the strongest segment of the SDDC market, but software-defined networking is growing rapidly.

A second report predicted the hyperscale data center market to hit $71.2 billion by 2022, driven primarily by cloud service providers.